What missed calls cost a dental practice

Missed new-patient calls a week, times the share who would have booked, times what a new patient is worth to you, times 52. That's the yearly cost in lost production, before you count empty chairs or lost treatment cases.

You'll see survey figures for missed calls across all small businesses quoted online. None we could check is specific to US dental offices, so we haven't used one here. Your own call log will tell you far more.

Four missed new-patient calls a week come to $24,960 a year in this example. The inputs are made up, as an example only, for a general practice. They aren't averages for dentistry and they aren't Ringzel customer data. Replace each line with your own.

1. 14 missed calls × 30% = 1.2 lost new patients a week.
2. 21.2 × $400 = $480 in lost production a week.
3. 3$480 × 52 = $24,960 a year.

If only one caller in ten would have booked, the same sum still comes to $8,320 a year. Our missed call calculator does the arithmetic with your own figures.

The sum treats every missed caller as lost, when some will call back. It also leaves out what a patient brings over the years: recall visits, hygiene, family members and the friend they recommend. Those pull in opposite directions, so the plain sum is a fair starting point.

More than the first exam and cleaning. Work it out from what new patients actually paid the practice in their first year, including hygiene visits, restorative work and any in-house membership plan fees.

Pull the last 50 new patients from your practice management software and average their first-year collections. Split PPO, fee-for-service and uninsured patients if your mix is uneven, because an in-network fee schedule usually pays less per procedure than your full fee.

Medicare rarely changes the sum. Medicare.gov says that in most cases Medicare doesn't cover dental services like routine cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions, dentures or implants. Some Medicare Advantage plans include dental benefits, so older patients should check their own plan.

Potentially far more than a hygiene visit, because implant, clear aligner and cosmetic inquiries are high-value and the caller is often comparing several offices. Run them as a separate sum.

As an example only, with made-up figures: if you miss one implant or aligner inquiry a month, one in five of those callers would have gone ahead with you, and the case is worth $3,000 to the practice, that's $600 a month or $7,200 a year. Use your own fee schedule and the case acceptance rate from your treatment coordinator's records.

These callers often phone in the evening, after reading your website. Our guide to after-hours dental calls covers that window.

Mostly empty chairs. As an example only: if two late cancellations a week reach you too late to refill, at $120 a hygiene appointment, that's $240 a week or $12,480 a year.

A patient who can't get through to cancel or move an appointment either doesn't turn up or tells you too late for anyone else to take the slot. Answering those calls doesn't stop people canceling, but it gives you the chance to offer the time to someone on your ASAP list.

Recall works the same way. The interval between recall visits is whatever your dentist sets for each patient, so a patient returning a recall text or postcard is calling at a time your practice chose. If that call goes unanswered, the visit can slip by months.

New patients, people in pain who aren't your patients yet, treatment inquiries and short-notice cancellations. Routine questions from existing patients cost the least, because those callers almost always try again.

People in pain matter more than the table suggests. The ADA's MouthHealthy site tells the public that most dentists reserve time in their daily schedules for emergency patients, so an office that answers can often offer a same-day slot. An office that doesn't answer loses that patient to the one that did.

From your phone system's call log. Two normal weeks show the pattern.

1. 1Export two weeks of call history from your phone system or VoIP provider's portal.
2. 2Filter for unanswered calls and calls that went to voicemail.
3. 3Split them by time: the first hour after opening, lunch, after closing and weekends.
4. 4Mark calls from numbers that aren't in your practice management software. Those are your likely new patients.
5. 5Count how many you called back, and how many of those booked.
6. 6Note any cancellations you heard about too late to refill.

Most practices find the gaps at the same moments: the first half hour after opening, when pain calls stack up, lunch, when the desk is short, and the evening. Our dental answering service guide compares ways to cover each gap.

When the production it protects is more than it costs. At $99 a month, Ringzel Basic costs $1,188 a year, so with a new patient worth $400, as in the example above, it pays for itself if it saves three new patients a year.

A receptionist does much more than answer the phone, so this isn't like for like. The receptionist figure starts from the BLS median for receptionists in offices of dentists: $22.36 an hour, or $46,500 a year, in May 2025. Over 2,080 hours that's $46,508.80 in pay. Add 7.65% employer Social Security and Medicare tax (IRS Topic 751), which is $3,557.92, and $42 of federal unemployment tax (IRS Topic 759), and you reach $50,108.72 before state unemployment tax, workers' comp, health insurance and paid time off, which vary by state and employer. Our guide to what a dental front desk costs goes through it line by line.

Human answering services usually charge a monthly fee plus a per-minute or per-call rate, and prices vary too much between providers to quote fairly. If your log shows very few missed calls from new numbers, you may not need extra cover at all: a clear voicemail and a same-day call-back routine could be enough.

By making sure a call the front desk can't take goes somewhere useful. Forward busy and unanswered calls to cover that answers in your practice's name, so new patients are captured while the desk is checking someone in.

• Set no-answer call forwarding, so calls move on after a few rings instead of ringing out. Our guide to forwarding business calls shows how.
• Put a second person on the phones for the first hour if that's your peak.
• Let existing patients book simple appointment types online.
• Keep an ASAP list of patients who'd take an earlier slot.
• Have a plan for evenings and weekends, when many patients call to book or cancel.
• Check the call log monthly, so you see when the pattern changes.

For bringing more new patients in once the phone is covered, see our guides to dental practice marketing and handling new patient calls.

Ringzel is an AI receptionist for dental practices. You keep your number and forward the calls the front desk can't take: when the lines are busy, at lunch or after hours. It answers every forwarded call, 24/7.

It answers in your practice's name, tells the caller it's automated and asks your questions, such as whether they're a new or existing patient, which dental insurance they have and what they'd like to come in for. It never gives dental advice, follows your urgent-call instructions word for word and isn't an emergency service: if a caller describes an immediate danger to life, it tells them to call 911. After each call you get a recording, a transcript, a summary and a check report.

Plans cost $99, $179 or $299 a month, or $990, $1,790 or $2,990 a year, as shown on our pricing page. Professional and Premium add bookings into the slots you choose and call transfers. Every plan has a 14-day free trial with no card to start.